The European Commission consults the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) at the earliest stage in the European legislative process on policy areas that directly affect the local and regional authorities. The CoR may also proactively adopt a position on a particular issue through an own-initiative opinion.
A democratic journey in three stages: discussion, drafting and voting:
The CoR president allocates a dossier to the relevant internal commission
A CoR member is appointed as rapporteur. The rapporteur drafts an opinion and presents it for discussion, amendment and adoption by the members of the relevant commission
The draft opinion is presented and discussed at the next plenary session
Once adopted in plenary by CoR members, the opinion is sent to all EU institutions.